The annual Labour Day game pitting the Argos and the Ticats is a no-go for the second time in three years, but the reigning Grey Cup champions will return to their football roots.

It’s for one game — a pre-season kickoff no less — but Varsity Stadium, site of so many CFL classics including the infamous Mud Bowl, will play host to pro three-down football for the first time in 55 years.

The Argos will host the Montreal Alouettes June 20 at Varsity at 7 p.m.

Given the seating limitations at Varsity, tickets will be at a premium, but the venue will once again re-ignite the debate why the team and the university couldn’t come to terms on a long-term arrangement that clearly would have ridded the Argos of the headache better known as Rogers Centre, which once again did very little in trying to accommodate the Argos.

No Labour Day matchup, no home date for roughly one month, a scenario that unfolded last year when the CFL released its schedule.

Despite all the rhetoric emanating from last week’s CFL Congress in Regina, football in southern Ontario remains a tough sell, no matter what people want you to believe.

The selling job becomes even harder this year as the Argos, as evidenced by the schedule, are hamstrung by Rogers Centre and the Ticats, who are coming off a wretched 6-10 season, are forced to play at the University of Guelph as a new stadium gets built.

For the second time in three years, the Ticats will head out East to play Montreal in Moncton on Sept. 21 as the CFL showcases its game to the Maritime market.

The Argos will open defence of their championship at home on June 28 versus Hamilton.

The Argos will also help Winnipeg usher in its new stadium on June 12 in an exhibition kickoff.